


tomorrow is a mile away

by remrose



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 03:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6268003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remrose/pseuds/remrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hearthstone is born with very small words on his wrist, like they were written by a person who tries to write as tiny as possible to save space. They are the very first words he learns to read, and he reads them over and over to himself whenever he is upset.</p><p>  <i>'Hey, it's okay, it's gonna be alright.'</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	tomorrow is a mile away

Everyone is born with a soulmate mark, tattooed with the first words their perfect match will say to them.

Hearthstone is born with very small words on his wrist, like they were written by a person who tries to write as tiny as possible to save space. They are the very first words he learns to read, and he reads them over and over to himself whenever he is upset.

_'Hey, it's okay, it's gonna be alright.'_

With only his bitter and disappointed parents as a frame of reference, it feels good to know that there is someone out there who will care. Even if they feel so very far away, and as he grows older he alternates between either looking forward to meeting them, and convinced that no one like that could possibly exist. That he will never get to meet them.

When he meets Blitzen for the first time, the dwarf probably doesn't remember what he was saying in a babble as he helped him, but Hearthstone remembers because the first thing he reads from his lips is "Hey, it's okay, it's gonna be alright." and he thinks, ' _oh, there you are'_ before he passes out.

Hearthstone wakes up later, rubbing his eyes, inside Blitz's apartment. He gives him food and checks on his injuries and fusses over him. Blitz doesn't look at him when he speaks, so Hearth doesn't know what he's saying, until he waves to get his attention.

"Yes?" Blitz says.

" _Why are you helping me?_ " Hearth signs.

Blitz blinks half a dozen times, and then says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't understand..."

But he learns. And he builds him a tanning bed, and rapidly becomes one of the best friend's Hearth has ever had, but he doesn't say a word about the soulmate marks. Hearth knows that his soulmate is Blitz, but how could Hearth possibly be his in return? So he doesn't say anything, and ignores that pang in his chest every time he sees him, the feeling that makes his blood vibrate like a tuning fork. He thinks, ' _it's you_ ' but doesn't allow his fingers to form the words. Doesn't allow himself the gift of a soulmate, at the risk that it might not be returned. After all, Hearth is the master of pain. This is just one more.

He doesn't know Blitz's mark for a long time. Soulmate marks are private, and hidden. Only after helping Magnus, after the wolf, does it finally come up. They're sitting alone at Hotel Valhalla, when Blitz asks almost suddenly, "Do you have a mark?"

Hearth blinks at him, surprised, and nods.

"Can I ask what it says?"

His heart pangs again, but he forces himself to sign casually, " _Hey, it's okay, it's gonna be alright."_

Blitz's face doesn't change, and he nods, looking pensive. Hearth, until this point, was content to live in ignorance, but he'd just watched his friend almost get killed... he can't help but want to know. " _What's yours?"_

Blitz smiles. "Mine says," then he suddenly switches to sign language, " _Why are you helping me?"_

Hearth feels like that's familiar. It's been years since they met, but...

"I didn't think about it for a long time." Blitz says. "It was such a hectic time. But looking back, I can't help but wonder if that's what you said to me, sitting on the couch. I can't remember the signs you did very well, but this feels..."

" _Familiar."_ Hearth finishes for him, and Blitz nods. Hearth has his heart in his throat, realizing that this is true. That they did match.

"Did you know?" Blitz asks, still calm and careful, like he doesn't want to scare Hearth away.

" _I knew mine. I didn't know if yours..."_ Hearth trails off, dropping his hands into his lap, and shrugging after a moment of pause.

"Silly." Blitz's smile has grown, ever wider, on his face. "Of course it's you. I wouldn't want it to be anyone else."

Hearth's eyes begin to burn, and he tries to force down the feeling. He remembers sitting on his bed at his parents home and tracing the words on his wrist over and over, how it made him feel. It felt like it does now, looking at Blitz. Maybe this would be okay, if he could let himself have this. Maybe it's time to stop denying himself.

Blitz rolls up his sleeve, and there is Hearth's handwriting, clear as day. ' _Why are you helping me?'_

Hearth does the same, and Blitz traces his tiny cramped script, that smile never abating.

" _Is this okay?"_ Blitz signs, clearly, one sleeve still rolled down and the tattoo moving with his hands.

Hearth considers this, then signs, " _Yes._ "

Blitz must laugh, but Hearth can't hear it, only feeling the vibrations when he leans down to kiss him like he's been waiting his whole life. Hearth supposes he must have been, just like him. He's careful and soft and Hearth clings to him, feeling the lightening strike up the nerves of his spine and his toes curl at the fulfillment of their soulmate bond.

Blitz withdraws, smiling almost drunkenly, then presses their foreheads together. Hearth sees his lips moving, and takes almost a minute to realize he's saying, "It's gonna be alright."

Hearth thinks about Blitz's tattoo, about ' _why are you helping me_?' and knows that the answer is because Blitz is an amazing dwarf and Hearth is so, so lucky to have him.

**Author's Note:**

> lmao what i am doing
> 
> title is from End Credits by EDEN


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